5/17 vs Astros

[Station 13]

Walk this s*** off Mookie.

[vegasbob]

What can the MVP do , in his contract year ? How the hell does he miss pitch #2

[jung]

JBJ does not prevent the 2 run dinger. The 3d run scored primarily because Vazquez moved the runner along with the passed ball. JDM actually has a decent arm which he used not long ago when he played RF and nailed the runner going home with a perfect throw from deeper than the throw tonight.

 

Our problem tonight was our anemic offense. Plus I think Cora should have pulled Porcello after the double.

 

Well, if you don't expect low scoring games when facing a team that can pitch as you can, you will be disappointed. If we get to the post season we will face teams like this one. Teams in fact like us. Teams that can pitch like the dickens that can control the opponents hitting for most of the game, just as Cole did and just as Rick did. Good pitching beats good hitting.

[Thunder]

[Thunder]

What can the MVP do , in his contract year ? How the hell does he miss pitch #2

 

Maybe because he's human. Don't act like you could hit that pitch. We're all in love with the hardest sport in the world. It happens

[d-money]

Dumpster fire of a game. No offense whatsoever. Get em tomorrow plz.

[jung]

Might be time to bring some guys up for the pen at this point. Cora is simply doing too much trying to play to Barnes and Brasier late and I am not even convinced he should have that much confidence in Brasier. Cora is stretching his starters all too often now and in truth, with having to give Hembree and Work clean innings for the most part, as many guys as there are out there in the pen, he really has two "dependable arms", Walden and Barnes. Now that I think about it, not sure Cora has built much confidence in Walden yet late in games with ducks on the pond.

[Thunder]

Losses happen. It's just a game. Life's just a game.

[Station 13]

Another pitching gem wasted. This team either bludgeon somebody or they are too afraid the bullpen will f*** up and extend their starters.

[Maxbialystock]

Well, if you don't expect low scoring games when facing a team that can pitch as you can, you will be disappointed. If we get to the post season we will face teams like this one. Teams in fact like us. Teams that can pitch like the dickens that can control the opponents hitting for most of the game, just as Cole did and just as Rick did. Good pitching beats good hitting.

 

Yes, good pitching beats good hitting. That also irrelevant to whether JBJ had played tonight because he could not have prevented the dinger and he sure as heck going to get a hit. The three lefty bats for the Sox tonight, all far better than JBJ, went 1 for 11 with 6 K’s. I have ranted about JBJ’s hitting, but probably would have played him tonight, nevertheless it’s clear to me he would not have changed the outcome.

[Thunder]

It would get boring if we won every game by 6 runs. Gotta keep it entertaining

[Maxbialystock]

Losses happen. It's just a game. Life's just a game.

 

 

And besides, the great one got his dinger. And the Astros really deserved this win. All’s right with the world.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Houston doesn't even have a hockey team, so there's that. When it comes to team sports, the SOX are my 1st love and the BRUINS are a close 2nd, so I'm not complaining.. Edited May 18, 2019 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[jung]

Yes, good pitching beats good hitting. That also irrelevant to whether JBJ had played tonight because he could not have prevented the dinger and he sure as heck going to get a hit. The three lefty bats for the Sox tonight, all far better than JBJ, went 1 for 11 with 6 K’s. I have ranted about JBJ’s hitting, but probably would have played him tonight, nevertheless it’s clear to me he would not have changed the outcome.

 

But Betts let balls drop in front of him in CF and JD threw the ball into the ground from RF costing us a run. JD DOES NOT belong in RF in this park. Worse, the Astros challenged JD out there. They knew there was a good chance they could beat him in that situation. Betts is not a good CFer and Beni is worse. So they are sort of stuck unless you want a team that depends on its rotation giving up runs from having guys that stumble around in the OF.

 

As bad as Beni is in CF, IMO, in this park Beni is a better CFer than JD is a RFer and Mookie is the GG RFer who is very very good in one of the most difficult RF's in baseball. So, if you have to play JD in the field he should go to LF, Beni to CF and Mookie stays in RF. Still my preference is Beni in LF, JBJ in CF and Mookie in RF. We win games based on the strength of our Rotation and you cannot just give up runs on goofy s*** in the OF when you win games based on the strength of your Rotation. Heck Cora gave up about 18 games at the start of the season for this Rotation. Sort of tells you what he thinks is the most important component of this team.

 

Cole controlled our best hitters tonight. Not that much of a surprise. A guy that good can and will do that to you sometimes. So name for me the guys that were in the lineup because JBJ was out that helped us score runs....Nunez??.....My butt end. Good luck making that argument.

Edited May 18, 2019 by jung

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

But Betts let balls drop in front of him in CF and JD threw the ball into the ground from RF costing us a run. JD DOES NOT belong in RF in this park. Worse, the Astros challenged JD out there. They knew there was a good chance they could beat him in that situation. Betts is not a good CFer and Beni is worse. So they are sort of stuck unless you want a team that depends on hits rotation giving up runs from having guys that stumble around in the OF.

 

As bad as Beni is in CF, IMO, in this park Beni is a better CFer than JD is a RFer and Mookie is the GG RFer who is very very good in one of the most difficult RF's in baseball. So, if you have to play JD in the field he should go to LF, Beni to CF and Mookie stays in RF. Still my preference is Beni in LF, JBJ in CF and Mookie in RF. We win games based on the strength of our Rotation and you cannot just give up runs on goofy s*** in the OF when you win games based on the strength of your Rotation. Heck Cora gave up about 18 games at the start of the season for this Rotation. Sort of tells you what he thinks is the most important component of this team.

 

Cole controlled our best hitters tonight. Not that much of a surprise. A guy that good can and will do that to you sometimes. So name for me the guys that were in the lineup because JBJ was out that helped us score runs....Nunez??.....My butt end. Good luck making that argument.

 

I agree with your post 100%. If Cora doesn't want JBJ in the line-up, it would make more sense to put Pearce in LF. Beni in CF. That way JD remains as the DH. Nunez replacing anybody makes no sense.

[mvp 78]

I know it sucks for your mojo, but I'm alright with it. It's Springer, the man that changed my life.

 

Don’t post in my gamethreads with this crap. Damn, dude.

[mvp 78]

Thunder lost this game, not Cora.

[d-money]

Skankees come back and win against Tampa bay. This team has to stay close to the standings. The skankees are playing cupcakes after the Tampa series.

[Slasher9]

If JBj was in the lineup we would have scored -1 runs!! Good thing he didn’t play so we ended up scoring a WHOPPING 1 run. No scoring is all JBj’s fault!!! We would have won so many more games this year if he was benched!!

[Thunder]

Thunder lost this game, not Cora.

 

Agreed. Whoever this Thunder guy is, we should DFA him immediately.

[Thunder]

And besides, the great one got his dinger. And the Astros really deserved this win. All’s right with the world.

 

Stop with this passive aggressive s***. I've asked you nicely.

[Bellhorn04]

Stop with this passive aggressive s***. I've asked you nicely.

 

It's just his little comedy shtick, Thunder. He means no harm, really.

[Maxbialystock]

The morning after suggests to me that I was a little harsh on Cora. Keeping Porcello in for the 8th was merited from the standpoint that Porcello had pitched extremely well for the first 7 innings and glided thru the 7th.

 

I will say that that leadoff double was hit very hard and might have told Cora it was time to pull his starter. Houston has 6 hits in the game, 2 of them for extra bases, both off Porcello in the 8th. I also think it's a good bet that Brasier, despite struggles this year, would have been more effective against the same two hitters--Marisnick and Springer-- because he has better stuff.

 

Less forgivable are the unearned run in the 9th thanks to Vazquez's passed ball and the combo of Moreland, Devers, and Chavis going 0 for 12 with 6 K's and leaving 10 baserunners stranded. Thus it's no surprise that the Sox were 1 for 11 with RISP.

 

Back to Cora. Against a righty, he went with 6 righty bats, which on the surface seemed not so smart. But those 6 righty bats got 8 of the 9 Sox hits. The 3 lefty bats got 6 of the 12 K's and had nothing to do with the 1 run scored.

 

And, despite my angst--and the causes of it--last night, I now think this was a hard fought game that ended with a very hard hit ball by Betts with 2 on and 2 out.

[iortiz]

Astros were very lucky yesterday, we left what? 11 RISP?

 

Same happened last year vs Cole in regular season, we left tons of LOB and RISP as well but he was not that lucky in POs. He ate 5 Rs and could have been worse If I recall well.

Edited May 18, 2019 by iortiz

[jacksonianmarch]

They ran a piece on Chavis today and his zone splits. He is awful against velocity up. He is incredible against junk down. This is backwards of what is usually expected of a kid. You usually expect they kill the high fastballs and miss the breaking balls that are kept down in the zone. The Astros sent hard thrower after hard thrower at Chavis and almost all of the strikes were up. The Astros starter today throws smoke, so they will likely try the same

[vegasbob]

The morning after suggests to me that I was a little harsh on Cora. Keeping Porcello in for the 8th was merited from the standpoint that Porcello had pitched extremely well for the first 7 innings and glided thru the 7th.

 

I will say that that leadoff double was hit very hard and might have told Cora it was time to pull his starter. Houston has 6 hits in the game, 2 of them for extra bases, both off Porcello in the 8th. I also think it's a good bet that Brasier, despite struggles this year, would have been more effective against the same two hitters--Marisnick and Springer-- because he has better stuff.

 

Less forgivable are the unearned run in the 9th thanks to Vazquez's passed ball and the combo of Moreland, Devers, and Chavis going 0 for 12 with 6 K's and leaving 10 baserunners stranded. Thus it's no surprise that the Sox were 1 for 11 with RISP.

 

Back to Cora. Against a righty, he went with 6 righty bats, which on the surface seemed not so smart. But those 6 righty bats got 8 of the 9 Sox hits. The 3 lefty bats got 6 of the 12 K's and had nothing to do with the 1 run scored.

 

And, despite my angst--and the causes of it--last night, I now think this was a hard fought game that ended with a very hard hit ball by Betts with 2 on and 2 out.

 

Cora self criticized his decision to leave Rick on the mound. Had he checked his analytics , he would have realized that Springer's history vs Porcello is one of abject failure by RP. Bringing in the struggling Brasier was another mistake , IMO, as if Cora was more interested in prepping the BP for today's game with Velasquez opening. In the end it was the hitters, not Cora nor Porcello who blew this game.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The truth of the matter is the 3 major problems facing the SOX at this point are not having Kimbrel closing and the offensive decline of Beni and Betts.

[mvp 78]

It's just his little comedy shtick, Thunder. He means no harm, really.

 

Cheering for the other team's players in a game thread is a bit of a faux pas to me.

[Bellhorn04]

Cheering for the other team's players in a game thread is a bit of a faux pas to me.

 

Yeah, it's just wrong.

[Thunder]

Cheering for the other team's players in a game thread is a bit of a faux pas to me.

 

I've been gone for two days... We're still talking about this? I moved past it, Max moved past it, so in my mind, it's a non-issue